A 10-Week Hybrid Prose Workshop
Wednesdays, January 21 - March 25, 6-9 PM
As a developmental editor, I read a lot of manuscripts. What I see, time and again, is how critical the first fifty pages are for launching a story and establishing tone, pacing, and overall structure. Never mind the daunting task of integrating necessary backstory and exposition!
This applies to both fiction and non—the goal is to hook the reader whether you’re writing a fast-paced thriller or an introspective memoir.
In this ten-week workshop, we’ll look at HOW you’ve set up your story, and what that set up suggests about what happens next. We’ll discuss different kinds of story problems; a variety of approaches to establishing a compelling world and characters; and how BIG story beats can build on and mirror each other.
We’ll also consider how each writer is using the core narrative elements: scene, summary, exposition, and interiority; and the way these choices impact structure from the micro to the macro level.
Through discussion of participant manuscripts and sample novel and memoir openings, we’ll work together to ensure everybody leaves ready to move forward with the daunting task of finishing (or revising!) a draft.
Advance prep: Participants, please submit the first fifty pages of your novel or memoir as a double-spaced, 12-point, paginated Word document, no later than Wednesday, January 7. You may also include a brief synopsis (no more than two pages, double spaced).
$475 Members/$675 Nonmembers
Writer and editor Tanya Whiton’s fiction has recently been featured in Hypertext, Collateral, CutBank, Fanzine, and The Cincinnati Review. A recipient of the 2025 St. Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artist Award, she was a finalist for the 2019 Tennessee Williams Contest, won second place in Zoetrope: All Story’s 2017 Short Fiction Contest, and has been a two-time recipient of the Martin Dibner Memorial Fellowship for Maine writers. Her essay, “For the Winter” was included in Breaking Bread: Essays from New England on Food, Hunger, and Family, and in 2014—with photographer Heidi Killion—she published a collection of travel essays, Two for the Road: Adventures in Maine. She was a co-writer and associate producer of the documentary feature THE ZEN SPEAKER: BREAKING THE SILENCE, and is currently adapting Maine author Elizabeth Garber’s memoir, Sailing at the Edge of Disaster, for a limited television series. For more, visit https://www.tanyakwhiton.com/.
ADVANCE REGISTRATION REQUIRED
All MWPA workshops require advanced registration. We accept registration by phone, mail, and online via our website. We cannot guarantee registration in the final 24-hours before a workshop, and can rarely accommodate day-of registration.
PAYMENT & CANCELLATION POLICIES
If you need to withdraw from a class after registering for any reason, please email or call the MWPA immediately. You may be eligible for a partial refund or credit, depending on how far in advance you cancel. → MORE INFORMATION
QUESTIONS
For any questions regarding this workshop, please contact programs@mainewriters.org.
REGISTER BY PHONE
Call 207-200-7180 and register with your VISA or MasterCard.
REGISTER BY MAIL
If you prefer to pay by mail, please print this registration form (downloadable PDF) and mail it to the MWPA with a check or credit card information.
SCHOLARSHIP
The MWPA is proud to offer one partial scholarship to this workshop for members-only. Scholarships are awarded on a combination of need and merit. Application Due two weeks prior to the workshop start date, at 9:00 a.m.
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MWPA WORKSHOP POLICIES
Registration in any MWPA workshop, program, or event constitutes your agreement to our terms and conditions. → MORE INFORMATION